Bill targets civic engagement

A kid can read a dozen books on how to hit a curveball, but until he stands in the batter’s box and gives it a try, the instructions on those pages mean little.

Recently, a bill proposed in the Indiana General Assembly drew nationwide attention. It aims to increase the civic engagement of young Hoosiers. House Bill 1296 would require high school students to pass the same 100-question test taken by immigrants seeking to become U.S. citizens.

They’d need to get 60 correct answers to be eligible for their diploma, starting in the 2016-17 school year.

The bill’s author — Rep. Timothy Wesco, an Indianapolis Republican — told Indianapolis television station WXIN-Channel 59, “In Indiana, we set a record as last (in the nation) on voter turnout in this last election. Regardless of what we’re teaching right now in our schools, we’re doing something wrong.”

Indeed, the Hoosier turnout hit an embarrassingly low, nationally worst 27.8 percent among its voting-eligible population, according to the U.S. Elections Project. (Those calculations include people eligible to become voters, not just those registered.) And, indeed, a deeper understanding of government, geography and civic affairs could make more people acknowledge the value of voting.

But most high schools already teach the topics covered in the citizenship test, and the last thing Indiana teachers and students need is yet another standardized test.

The cause of Indiana’s poor voter turnout has many tentacles, though. Most involve the voting hurdles within Indiana’s law — the needless 1913-era registration deadline of 29 days before an election, the 6 p.m. Election Day poll closing time, and the voter ID law imposed to fight the imaginary problem of in-person voter fraud.

A different, more meaningful bill pending in the General Assembly — one that could boost and sustain the growth of voter turnout long-term — has gotten almost no attention.

That proposal — from Rep. Robin Shackleford, an Indianapolis Democrat — would allow 16-year-olds to get registered to vote when they apply for a driver’s license at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Sixteen-year-olds couldn’t actually vote until they’ve turned 18, but they would already be registered and ready to hit the polls when that day comes.

The idea of House Bill 1173 is “trying to get them involved in this process early, and to see the issues,” Shackleford said by telephone recently. “We stand a much better chance of getting (young people) in the pipeline of civic participation.” As of Jan. 23, the bill had been assigned to the Committee on Elections and Apportionment but hadn’t yet received a hearing, Shackleford said.

The bill to preregister teenagers has a stronger potential to actually send more Hoosiers into polling booths and, thus, create lifelong Indiana voters.